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The Etxepare Institute recently announced new agreements with five universities in Europe and America.  Mari Jose Olaziregi Alustiza (Donostia, 1963) is the director for Promotion and Diffusion of the Basque Language at the Etxepare Institute.  A large part of her work consists in traveling to several universities to secure lectureships for Basque language and culture, and establish chairs.  Felix Ibargutxi talked to her in an interview published in the Diario Vasco.  

Felix Ibargutxi/Donostia-San Sebastian.   You have to deal with opinions like it’s not very important that twenty university students in Poland learn Basque.

-That students in Warsaw or Poznan learn Basque has an absolute significance.  It could be that a future translator of Basque literature is among them, or a renowned researcher that includes Euskera and the Basque culture in his/her field of research.  Disseminating and promoting Euskera and the Basque culture in foreign universities allows us to create networks and exchanges with research centers and prestigious teaching.  And this is also good for Basque universities.

The Etxepare Institute has been establishing Basque language and culture lectureships for several years in many cities around the world.

-We have been for four years.  In all, there are currently 2,000 students enrolled in the network of lectureships.  We have 34 agreements with universities all around the world.  A total of 28 lecturers and five chairs of Basque Studies.

During these active four years, we have singed 24 agreements, the growth is significant

In four years you have done a lot of things.

-Actually, the lecturer program started in 2005 by Linguistic Policy.  In 2010, the Etxepare Institute assumed these powers and we added 25 lectureships.  In these four years we have singed 24 new agreements with universities and the growth has been significant.  In the beginning, Etxepare had 1,000 students, and now there are 2,000.  On the other hand, we have had to close 8 lectureships, because we prioritized universities of prestige that guarantee a major Basque studies curricular presence, we don’t want Basque language and culture classes to merely be extracurricular.

You closed these lectureships because Basque subjects weren’t in the curriculum.

-And because there were very few students and the universities themselves showed little interest.  We have to make good investments, especially when our resources are limited as they are today.  So in order to optimize resources, there are universities who share lecturers as in the case, for example, at universities in Barcelona, Madrid and Italy (Bologna and Venice)

We are still in the prehistoric times if we compare ourselves with Catalonia, for example

And have these people who have taken these classes in recent years begun to contribute, working in the area of Basque studies?

-There are already Masters Projects and theses in development, one, for example, on violence and literary representation.  There are even people who have learned Basque, as in the case in Poland, who are now translators but who started as students in the lectureships.  It is a great investment.

It seems that the Basque language and culture generate curiosity in the world.

-Without a doubt.  The proof is in the fact that many of our recent agreements were not sought out by us, but were initiated by the universities themselves.  Our work is becoming more visible and far-reaching.  For the next academic year, for example, we just announced that we will begin teaching Basque language and culture at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champagne, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Havana and at the Sorbonne (Paris IV).  The latter, additionally, will include the cost of the language classes.  For its part, the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, will teach language and culture classes beginning in 2016-2017.  There are five agreements that we have just announced.

The ideal is for the lectureships to become permanent Basque studies positions

We are going to talk about the lecturers.  There are some veterans, like Jon Elordi, in Barcelona.

-Elordi is a veteran, yes, but he is not our lecturer.  Ours is Aritz Galarraga, who teaches at the Autonomous University and at the Central in Barcelona, he is also a very good literary critic.  Lecturers like Xabi Paya – who doesn’t need any introduction – Amaia Gabantxo has just finished her fourth year in Chicago, she is a Basque language translator.  Amaia Dones had been in Poznan, she was an excellent lecturer who Basque-ized a lot of people and who had sewn a lot of interest in the Basque culture.  In Leipzig we have Unai Lauzirika, who is also a member of the Berlin Euskal Etxea, who is a born activist.  Miren Ibarluzea is at the Sorbonne 3.  In Liverpool there is Gorka Mercero, and we also had the good fortune of turning one of our lectureships into a permanent position there as well, the first in England with a Basque Studies profile. This is our ideal: the universities begin to convert the lectureships into permanent positions in Basque Studies.  I know that it is a lofty goal, but we have to keep working at it so that it happens gradually.

When we talk about Basque Studies, the people automatically think of Reno.

-That is the only center of its kind outside of the Basque Country.  But let finish with the network of lectureships that over the last three years and a half, have organized over 250 cultural and academic activities at their respective universities. They are not only focused on teaching and research, but also on action.  Consolidating an international university network is strategic for the future of Basque Studies.  Look, for example, the number of departments that include Catalan studies, some 157 throughout the world, and I’m jealous.  The question is: how many departments are there with specialists in the field of Basque Studies?

How many?

-The answer is: we don’t know.  Today there is not an updated database of university professors abroad who teach, even partially, some form of Basque Studies.  We are in prehistoric times compared to Catalonia.  There have been Chairs of Basque Studies taught by exiles in South America after the War of 36.  Where is the legacy of all of these people?

If one Chair is called Jon Bilbao and another Manuel Irujo, it is because exile is a mirror

I repeat the question.

-If one of our Chairs is called Jon Bilbao, and the other Manuel Irujo, it is because in exile we have a mirror to look at ourselves.  These people had, besides an unquestionable intellectual capacity, an impressive diplomatic and cultural agenda.  Etxepare has to take the next step and create chairs and centers for Basque Studies, not out of brick, but rather in sections of existing universities.  Right now, for example, we are negotiating with a prestigious university in Asia to create a Basque Studies program.

What kinds of things to the Chairs do?

-Besides providing teaching at the graduate level, our chairs are also platforms for research and promotion.  I think that it is very well-invested money, because our most expensive Chair costs 14,000 annually, and it includes teaching by a visiting professor, conferences etc.  You can’t do more for less.  Additionally, our philosophy is to permeate, and spread the knowledge of these Basque specialists.

Let’s talk more about the Chairs.

-We have, for example, the Manuel Irujo Chair, in Liverpool, to study Basque exile.  It was inaugurated this year by visiting professor, Xabier Irujo.

From the same family?

-Pello’s son.  Another great example of a Chair is the Eduardo Chillida Chair, at the Goethe University in Frankfurt.  The Atxaga Chair, in New York, is a huge platform every year to organize a large academic and cultural program that makes an impact.  The Mitxelena Chair, In Chicago, idem de idem.  We are not talking about second-rate universities, that’s what I mean.  And there is also the Jon Bilbao Chair, at the University of Nevada, where we are co-financing with Foreign Action, the University of Deusto and NABO, the “Memoria Bizia” project to collect the testimonies of the oldest generations in the North American Diaspora. 

 (published onl 06-21-2015 in El Diario Vasco)

«BIOLENTZIARI BURUZ LITERATURA AUSARTA EGIN DA HEMEN»

Asko hitz egiten da baketzeaz. Zu literatur kritikaria zara. Zer eman dezake literaturak alde horretatik?

-Euskal literatura aportazio handia egiten ari da. Handia benetan. Fernando Aranburuk harako hura esan zuen, euskarazko idazleak ez direla libreak eta ez diotela aurre egin arazo honi. Bada juxtu alderantziz da. Pentsa, 1976an, 'Ehun metro'-n, Saizarbitoriak, heldu zion biolentziaren gaiari, eta nola gainera! Oro har, euskal literatura gehiago zentratu da terroristaren figuran, haren pentsakeran edo haren inguruko jendearengan.

Gehiago idatzi da pistola duenaz, biktimaz baino.

-Baina literaturak ñabardurak eskaintzen ditu beti, eta kasu egin behar zaie egia horiei. Badira obrak isiltasunaz mintzo direnak, edo lekukoez... Hor dago Lertxundiren 'Zorion perfektua'...

Eta Jokin Muñoz.

-'Antzararen bidea' eleberri bikaina da. Hor dago aktibistaren ama, bere semea ezagutzen ez duela ohartzen da bat-batean. Hor daude burua moztuta ere ibilian jarraitzen duten antzarak, nora joan ez dakien gizarte baten metafora ere izan litezke.

Eta 'Twist'.

-Oso gustukoa dut, oraintxe ari naiz nobela honetaz idazten. Iragana mamu itxura hartuta bueltatzen da, literatura fantastikoaren testu estrategiak erabiliz. Soto izeneko pertsonaia altxatu eta ibiltzen hasten da. Antzeko estrategia literarioak ageri da Argentinako literaturan, diktaduretako desagertuei buruz ari diren liburu batzuetan: desagertutako horiek presentzia espektralak dira.

'Martutene' ere hor dago.

-Nola ez! Izaro Arroitak egin duen doktore-tesi bikainean, ideia nagusietako bat hauxe da: Saizarbitoriaren narratiban Gerra Zibileko gudarien herentzia transmititzeko ahalegin literarioa nabarmentzen da, galtzaileen duintasuna transmititzeko ahalegina, alegia. Baina ez da ETAko militanteen herentzia transmititu nahi; militante guztiek hilda bukatzen dute bere lanetan.

Eta Atxaga.

-Dudarik gabe! 'Soinujolearen semea'-n, ETAko militanteak utzi egiten du erakundea eta autoexiliora doa. Iban Zaldua dugu baita ere: 'Gerra Zibilak' izenburuko narrazioan, mendian galduta dagoen Gerra Zibileko talde batek borrokan segitzen du urtetan bere kasa. Eider Rodriguezen "Politika albisteak" ipuinean, berriz, generoaren ikuspuntutik aztertzen da borroka armatuaren eragin soziala. Arantxa Urretabizkaiak, ordea, amatasuna eta militantzia izan zituen hizpide 'Koaderno Gorria'-n... eta abar. Literatura ausarta egin da hemen, eta esaten duena euskal nobelek ez dutela baketzearen aldeko lanik egin, ez dutela memoriari buruzko diskurtsoa eraikitzen lagundu, liburu horiek irakurri ez dituen seinale. Min gehien ematen diguten arazoetan jartzen dute arreta: gure isiluneetan, gure ekidistantzietan, alde guztietako sufrimenduan, torturan...

(2015-06-21ean El Diario Vascon argitara emana)